Sunday, March 25, 2012

Letter to Julia 20120326

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

For dinner last night I had fried noodles. Fried noodles, or mee goreng as it is called here in Malaysia, is a common dish. Everyone knows what it is and eats it, and has some version of it when cooking it for themselves. I find that the common dishes are the hardest to perfect. I know very few of the traditional Malaysian dishes, because I'm too lazy to learn probably, and I'm such a chaotic cook. I like to go with the flow, you know, and cook up whatever I feel like eating at the particular moment. And when I have no money, I cook up whatever I have at the moment. I have 100 or so different versions of mee goreng, for the simple reason that I'm such a chaotic cook. It's not that I can't stick to a recipe, after all, I used to make the same pizza over and over again from scratch for the masses back during the pizza days. Did you know that the most difficult pizza to cook perfectly is a plain cheese pizza?

Anyway, fried noodles, or chow mein, or lo mein, or mee goreng. The essential element is the noodles, of course. For mee goreng, it would the the course noodles made usually of flour, eggs, grease, salt and water. The dough is extruded into yellowish noodles and mixed with more grease to maintain separation, portioned then packaged while still moist. Over in the USA, you wouldn't find moist egg noodles too easily. They would be dried, and you would have to moisten it yourself usually, but if you can, try to obtain the moist kind. First, you must prepare the fond in a wok. Fond is what you would call a sauce you would cook up to coat the noodles. A typical fond would be to fry up chopped garlic, onions, celery, soy sauce, etc until you get a dark, greasy, salty paste. Last night, I used onion, chicken liver, chilli paste, and salted soybeans. I like to perceive fried noodles like making a salad: toss the noodles into the fond as you would toss the salad until they are well mixed, then turn down the heat and add your pre-cooked meats and vegetables at the very end, so the veggies don't lose their snap, then toss it all together and turn off the fire.

I really don't consider myself the best mee goreng cook. There are certainly better mee goreng cooks out there. When you get here, I'll take you out to one of my favorite places for fried noodles. InsyaAllah. I hope you like it.

Qur'an 20120326

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

59. Say: "Praise be to Allah, and Peace on God's servants whom God has chosen. Who's better? Allah or the false gods they associate?"

60. Or, who has created the heavens and the earth, and who sends you down rain from the sky? Yes, with it We cause to grow well-planted orchards full of beauty and delight. It is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees in them. God besides Allah? No, they are a people who swerve from justice.

61. Or, who has made the earth firm to live in, made rivers in its midst, set thereon mountains immovable, and made a separating bar between the two bodies of flowing water? God besides Allah? No, most of them know not.

62. Or, who listens to the distressed when it calls on God, who relieves its suffering, and makes you inheritors of the earth? God besides Allah? Little it is that you heed!

63. Or, who guides you through the depths of darkness on land and sea, and who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before God's mercy? God besides Allah? High is Allah above what they associate with God!

64. Or, who originates Creation, then repeats it, and who gives you sustenance from heaven and earth? God besides Allah? Say, "Bring forth your argument, if you are telling the truth!"

65. Say, "None in the heavens or on earth, except Allah, knows what is hidden. Nor can they perceive when they shall be raised up."

66. Still less can their knowledge comprehend the Hereafter. No, they are in doubt and uncertainty thereat. No, they are blind thereunto!

67. The unbelievers say, "What! When we become dust, we and our fathers, shall we really be raised?"

68. "It is true we were promised this, we and our fathers before. These are nothing but tales of the ancients."

69. Say, "Go you through the earth, and see what has been the end of those guilty."

70. But grieve not over them, nor distress yourself because of their plots.

71. They also say, "When is this promise, if you are truthful?"

72. Say, "It may be that some of the events which you wish to hasten may be in your pursuit!"

73. But verily your Lord is full of grace to humans, yet most of them are ungrateful.

The Ants 27:59-73

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Praise be to Allah, and Peace on God's servants whom God has chosen. Who's better? Allah or the false gods they associate?

Bring forth your argument, if you are telling the truth!

None in the heavens or on earth, except Allah, knows what is hidden. Nor can they perceive when they shall be raised up.

Go you through the earth, and see what has been the end of those guilty.

It may be that some of the events which you wish to hasten may be in your pursuit!